(UPDATED 9:50 pm EST) COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — Interstate 40 in Western North Carolina is expected to be closed indefinitely after flooding from Hurricane Helene caused serious damage to the interstate in the Pigeon River Gorge between Tennessee and Asheville.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) said Friday that all roads in the region should be considered closed. Torrential rain from Hurricane Helene, now a tropical depression, flooded many roads and washed out others. Landslides and downed trees and wires were also blocking the way.
“Motorists should not travel in this area, should not attempt to drive through standing water, and must respect barricades and road closure signs,” NCDOT said on its travel advisory website, drivenc.gov.
NCDOT also said that the closure could be long-term, possibly weeks, depending on the severity of the damage.
I-40 was closed between Cocke County, Tennessee and the entirety of Western North Carolina on Friday morning after catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Helene caused mudslides and left debris along the interstate. The Pigeon River which runs along the gorge on I-40 between Cocke County and Asheville flooded over on Friday afternoon.
NCDOT confirmed a mudslide at mile marker 3 near the Tennessee state line washed away a portion of the eastbound side on the North Carolina side into the Pigeon River. That part of the interstate is inaccessible, and crews will have to survey the damage from the sky using drones to determine what steps will need to be taken.
NCDOT was unsure how long repairs would take, and as of Friday evening continued to say that people should assume all major roads in Western North Carolina are undrivable due to flooding damage.
Pictures are flooding social media from drivers in the area, showing the devastation.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
To whom it may concern:Please use your common sense when traveling,if it’s not a “Death”,don’t attempt to travel,(birthday gifts can wait,they will keep).It is for your own safety.
Thank you for this informative article on the closure of I 40. I’ve been looking for this information about I 40 using the local news stations and the NCDOT, TNDOT and all I get to see is their ads, and not the information that I’m reading in your article! Thank you.
Can one travel up 221 out of Rutherfordton to I-77 near N Wilkesboro
Common sense is commonly uncommon.
in the first time, which i think about it quite often, someone actually gets it, how uncapasionable, undermining, putting others down, that they themselves do not have the education of a 5 th grader. not the writer but just in general.lol
You can access TN via 77 to 81 in Virginia to 40 west in TN
A dearth of info on this in the media here in WNC. Of course, there’s a lot else going on in the wake of the storm–and I’m sure it’s hard to get people out there on-site. (I live a few miles from NC Exit 20 on I-40). I have not heard about any possible casualties and sincerely hope there were none.
Look closely at this spot on Google Earth (about 1/3 mi. north of the double tunnel) and you’ll see that it was the proverbial ‘accident waiting to happen’ — a sharp bend in the river, whose bank was undercut, with just 35 or 40 feet between the edge of the paved shoulder and a sharp drop-off down into the river corridor, and only the standard concrete barrier in between. Ironically, the river section below is normally “dry”, lying below the Walters hydro dam and above the powerplant it feeds downstream (the two connected by a miles-long pipeline). When your lake gets full, though, the water has to go somewhere…
Been in Sc from Lex ky for 42 years, so
We’ve seen many disruptions, slides, and so on , but this might be the worst !
Well up I-26….. maybe, to I-81 to Knoxville
To Lex!
Hi,
I was planning on moving to my grandparents house in Clayton, NC. I’m coming from New Mexico. I’m driving a 30 RV and flat towing a Ford F150. I was going to leave on Tuesday, October 1st. I’m wondering if I should wait to leave? Or perhaps, I can bring the people there some supplies? Gas is pretty cheap in NM right now. I could fill up some cans? Idk. What do you guys think? Should I wait and leave later this week or next week. I’m just trying to get out of NM before the cold weather comes.
is I-26 open in NC going into Tennessee going in either direction
Buy yourself a darn CB! Look at those trucks stuck there and how are they going there get them out? Having a CB is not a distraction as your Safety dept., says! It can be a matter of life & death!
Paityn, Looks like I-40 is no longer reliable and will be closed indefinitely. You could probably divert North from Knoxville, TN up to Roanoke, VA then south the Raleigh area. Don’t quote me on that route, do your own research, but you are not going to be able to make passage there using I-40. They are saying it will be closed for a year.
As of 7 pm Monday, I-26 appeared to be open from the SC line, north thru Asheville, until you get a few miles from the Va. line, then closed. A good reference is the NC-DOT real-time map, HERE:
https://drivenc.gov/
Can I get from Ky to Nashville TN with interstate issues?
NOTICE TO ALL TRUCKERS: For the time being, US441 through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is completely CLOSED TO ALL TRAFFFIC OVERNIGHT by means of locked gates, from 10 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. At all other hours, large commercial traffic is being turned around at manned checkpoints on both sides of the Park (see above).